perfex-crm-skills

Use whenever the user is working inside a Perfex CRM codebase and touches `get_option`, `update_option`, `add_option`, `delete_option`, `hooks()`, `do_action`, `apply_filters`, `register_activation_hook`, `$this->load`, `get_instance()`, `$CI`, `db_prefix()`, auth helpers like `is_staff_logged_in` / `get_staff_user_id` / `staff_can`, or `_l()`. Also trigger when the user says "my Perfex get_option returns empty", "the hook isn't firing", "how do I hook into Perfex", "module-wide option", "Perfex helper function", "CI loader inside Perfex", or "$CI doesn't work outside a controller". This skill prevents the

Use whenever the user is reading, writing, installing, or debugging Perfex CRM custom fields — `tblcustomfields` (definitions), `tblcustomfieldsvalues` (values keyed by `relid`), field types (`input`, `textarea`, `select`, `multiselect`, `checkbox`, `date`, `datetime`, `link`, `colorpicker`, `file`), `fieldto` values (`contacts`, `customers`, `leads`, `invoice`, `estimate`, `contracts`, `tasks`, `tickets`, etc.), `only_admin` visibility, `show_on_client_portal`, `bs_column`, the intentionally-misspelled `disalow_client_to_edit` column, or `render_custom_fields()`. Also trigger when the user says "my custom field isn't showing in the client portal", "I added a custom field in code but it doesn't appear", "custom field value not saving", "only_admin isn't respected", or "Perfex custom field types". Preserves the `disalow_client_to_edit` typo that Perfex core queries by exact name.

Use whenever the user writes SQL DDL for a Perfex CRM module, adds a foreign key referencing `tblcontacts`, `tblstaff`, `tblclients`, `tblinvoices`, or any `tbl*` core table, designs `tbl<module>_<entity>` schema, writes `install.php` / `uninstall.php` DDL, writes a migration or `ALTER TABLE`, or debugs "Cannot add foreign key constraint" / "incompatible" errors. Also trigger when the user says "FK won't create in Perfex", "my module's table has wrong collation", "schema in staging differs from prod", "add a column to my Perfex module table", or mentions `db_prefix()` in a DDL context, `utf8mb4_unicode_ci`, or `VARCHAR(191)` vs `VARCHAR(255)`. Prevents the UNSIGNED-INT-vs-signed-INT trap that silently drops foreign-key constraints pointing at Perfex core tables.

Use whenever the user is sending, rendering, or debugging transactional email in a Perfex CRM module — `$this->emails_model->send_simple_email`, `send_mail_template`, email template files under `views/emails/`, admin-recipient fallback chains (`my_module_admin_email` → `contact_form_notification_email` → `smtp_email`), retry queues with exponential backoff stored in `tbl<module>_email_retries`, or cron-driven retry processing via `after_cron_run`. Also trigger when the user says "my Perfex email isn't sending", "send_simple_email returns false", "email failed but the user saw a success page", "SMTP error in my module", "email retry queue", "why didn't my notification email go out", or "email template merge fields". Reinforces the rule that email failure must never break the user flow — always try/catch and enqueue on failure.

Use whenever the user is creating, modifying, or debugging a Perfex CRM module — anything under `modules/<module_name>/` including `module_name.php`, `install.php`, `uninstall.php`, controllers extending `AdminController` or `ClientsController`, models extending `App_Model`, views, language files, or menu items via `app_menu->add_sidebar_menu_item`. Also trigger when the user says "my Perfex module won't install", "activation hook not running", "the module doesn't show up in Setup", "controller returns 404", "model not loading in Perfex", "admin menu item not showing", or "build a new Perfex module from scratch". Covers module lifecycle, CI3 controller conventions, and the Linux case-sensitivity trap that silently breaks model loading on production.

Use whenever the user is creating, modifying, or debugging a Perfex CRM payment gateway module — a class extending `App_gateway` in `modules/<module>/libraries/<Id>_gateway.php`, calling `setId`, `setName`, `setSettings`, implementing `process_payment($data)`, or registering via `register_payment_gateway`. Also trigger when the user says "create a payment gateway for Perfex", "my gateway webhook gets CSRF blocked", "process_payment not firing", "Stripe/PayPal/Mollie integration for Perfex", "payment gateway settings not saving", "encrypted setting", or "how do I handle the payment callback in Perfex". Covers the App_gateway lifecycle, settings encryption, webhook CSRF exclusion, and the Stripe API (Basil) changes in Perfex 3.3.0.

Use whenever the user is customizing, overriding, or debugging PDF output in Perfex CRM — invoice PDFs, estimate PDFs, proposal PDFs, payment receipts, contract PDFs, statement PDFs, credit note PDFs, the `my_` prefix override convention, TCPDF library usage, `App_items_table` customization, font configuration (freesans, dejavusans, droidsansfallback), PDF merge fields, logo/heading settings, or e-invoice JSON/XML export (3.4.0+). Also trigger when the user says "my PDF is blank", "Arabic text broken in PDF", "custom logo not showing in invoice PDF", "how to add a field to the invoice PDF", "PDF font wrong", "override invoicepdf.php", "items table column in PDF", or "e-invoice XML format".

Use whenever a Perfex CRM task touches security-sensitive code — issuing or consuming single-use tokens (password reset, magic link, confirmation), race-safe atomic UPDATE with `affected_rows()` check, handling user-controlled redirect URLs (`?next=`, `?redirect=`, `?return_to=`), rate-limiting an AJAX endpoint that leaks boolean state, cross-module model loads, logging PII, adding `target="_blank"` links, or excluding a webhook from CSRF. Also trigger when the user says "my magic link works twice", "password reset is racy", "someone can enumerate users by email", "open redirect in my module", "CSRF blocking my webhook", "rate limit this endpoint", or mentions "TOCTOU", "enumeration", `html_purify`, or `app_generate_hash()`. Every rule here exists because its absence caused a real Perfex production incident.

Use whenever the user is building or debugging a Perfex CRM custom client-area theme — files under `assets/themes/<theme>/` and `application/views/themes/<theme>/`, asset injection via `app_customers_head`/`app_customers_footer`/`app_admin_head`/`app_admin_footer` hooks, overriding core views, dark mode with `[data-theme="dark"]` plus anti-FOUC `<head>` scripts, RTL/Arabic support, or the jQuery Validate bug where a submit button's `name` is stripped from POST (breaks "Pay Now" / "Save Draft" detection). Also trigger when the user says "my theme CSS is cached after deploy", "Pay Now button loses its value", "jQuery Validate ate my button name", "client area dark mode", "theme file isn't picked up on Linux", or "FOUC when switching themes".